Chapter XVI: Act 1898: the official principal of the archbishop is required to (5)

The most remarkable Coptic churches in Egypt are those of the
Deir-el-Abiad (the White monastery) and the Deir-el-Akhmar (the Red
monastery) at Suhag. These were of great size, measuring about 240 ft.
by 130 ft. with vaulted narthex, nave and aisles separated by two rows
of monolith columns taken from ancient buildings, twelve in each row
and probably roofed over in timber, and three apses, directed
respectively towards the east, north and south. These apses are
unusually deep and have five niches in each, in two storeys separated
by superimposed columns. In the church of St John at Antinoe there are
seven niches. A similar arrangement is found in the three apses,
placed side by side, in the more ancient portion of St Mark's, Venice,
built A.D. 820, and said to have been copied from St Mark's at
Alexandria. There is no external architecture in the Coptic churches;
they are all masked with immense enclosure walls, so as to escape
attention. The walls of the interior still preserve a great portion of
the paintings of scriptural subjects; the screens dividing off the
Haikal and other chapels from the choir are of great beauty, and
evidently formed the models from which the panelled woodwork, doors
and pulpits of the Mahommedan mosques have been copied and reproduced
by Copts.

Illustrations are given in A.J. Butler's _Ancient Coptic Churches of
Egypt_(1884); Wladimir de Bock's _Materiaux archeologiques de l'Egypte
chretienne_(1901); and A. Gayet's _L'art coptique_. (R. P. S.)

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY

"Romanesque" is the broad generic term adopted about the beginning of the 19th century by French archaeologists in order to bring under one head all the various phases of the round-arched Christian style, hitherto known as Lombard and Byzantine Romanesque in Italy, Rhenish in Germany, "Romane" and Norman in France, Saxon and Norman in England, &c. In character, as well as in time, the Romanesque lies between the Roman and the Gothic or Pointed style, but its first manifestation in Italy has already been described in the section on "Early Christian Architecture," and it only remains to deal with the subsequent development from the age of Charlemagne, which marks an epoch in the history of architecture, and from which period examples are to be found in every country.

In consequence of the lack of homogeneousness in the Romanesque style as developed in Italy, owing to the mixture of styles, and the difficulty of tracing the precise influence of any one race in buildings frequently added to, restored or rebuilt, their description will be more easily followed if a geographical subdivision be made, the simplest being Northern or Lombard Romanesque, Central Romanesque and Southern Romanesque; after the latter would follow the Sicilian Romanesque, which, owing to the Saracenic craftsman, constitutes a type by itself. This leaves still one other phase to be noted, the influence recognized in northern Italy of the architectural style of the Eastern Empire at Byzantium, either direct or through Istria and Dalmatia. In the churches at Ravenna, this influence has already been referred to in the section on "Early Christian Architecture," but it appears again in the church of St. Mark at Venice, and in much of its domestic architecture, so that it is necessary to recognize another term,, that of "Byzantine Romanesque."

_Northern or Lombard Romanesque._--Although the materials for forming
an adequate notion of the earlier work of the Lombards are very
scanty, after their conversion to the Catholic faith the Church
probably exercised a powerful influence in their architectural work.
Under Liutprand, towards the close of the 8th century, an order known
as the Magistri Commacini was established, to whom were given the
privileges of freemen in the Lombard State. These Commacini, so named
from the island in the lake of Como whence they sprang, were trained
masons and builders, who in the 9th and 10th century would seem to
have carried the Lombard style through north and south Italy, Germany
and portions of France. It was at one time assumed that they had
influenced the church architecture throughout Europe, but this is not
borne out by the evidence of the buildings themselves, except in the
Rhenish provinces and in the districts on the slope of the Harz
Mountains, where in sculpture a strange mixture is found of monstrous
animals with Scandinavian interlaced patterns and Byzantine foliage,
bearing a close resemblance to the early sculpture in Sant Ambrogio at
Milan and San Michele at Pavia (Plate V, fig. 72). Although the
earliest Lombard buildings in Italy (such as those of San Salvatore in
Brescia, San Vincenzo in Prato at Milan the church of Agliate and
Santa Maria delle Caccie at Pavia) were basilican in plan with nave
and aisles, there are some instances in which the adoption of a
transept has produced the Latin cross plan (e.g. San Michele at Pavia,
Sant' Antonino at Piacenza, San Nazaro-Grande at Milan, and the
cathedrals of Parma and Modena), though to what extent this is due to
subsequent rebuilding is not known. In the early basilicas above
mentioned the columns, carrying the arcades between nave and aisles,
were taken from earlier buildings, while the capitals, where not
Roman, were either rude imitations of Roman, or Byzantine in style.
The roofs were always in wood, and the exteriors of the simplest
description. In the external decoration, however, of the apses of the
churches of San Vincenzo in Prato, Santa Maria delle Caccie, the
church at Agliate and the ancient portion of S. Ambrogio at Milan, we
find the germ of that decorative feature which (afterwards developed
into the eaves gallery) became throughout Italy and on the Rhine the
most beautiful and characteristic element of the Lombard style. In
order to lighten the wall above the hemispherical vault of the apse, a
series of niches was sunk within the arches of the corbel table, which
gave to the cornice that deep shadow where it was most wanted for
effect. In addition to the churches above named, similar niches are
found in the baptisteries of Novara and Arsago, the Duomo Vecchio at
Brescia and the church of San Nazaro Grande at Milan. Towards the
close of the 11th century, the imposts of these niches take the form
of isolated piers, with a narrow gallery behind, and eventually small
shafts with capitals are substituted for the piers, producing the
eaves-galleries of the apses, which in Santa Maria Maggiore at Bergamo
(1137) and the cathedral of Piacenza are the forerunners of numerous
others in Italy, and in the churches of Cologne, Bonn, Bacharach and
other examples on the Rhine, constitute their most important external
decoration.

In the apses of San Vincenzo in Prato and of the church at Agliate
(both of the 9th century) there is another decorative feature,
destined afterwards to become one of the most important methods of
breaking up or subdividing the wall surface, i.e. the thin pilaster
strips, which, at regular intervals, rise from the lower part of the
wall to the corbel table of the cornice.

The two most important churches of the Lombard Romanesque style are
those of Sant' Ambrogio at Milan and S. Michele at Pavia, their
importance being increased by the fact that they probably represent
the earliest examples of the solution of the great problem which was
exercising the minds of the church builders towards the end of the
11th century, the vaulting of the nave. In the original church, of the
9th century, the nave and aisles of Sant' Ambrogio were divided in the
usual way with arcades, and were covered with open timber roofs. In
the rebuilding of the church (fig 35) the nave (38 ft. wide) was
divided into four square bays, and compound piers of large dimensions
were built, to carry the transverse and diagonal ribs of the new
vault. To resist the thrust, the walls across the aisles were built up
to the roof, and had external buttresses, the diagonal ribs instead of
following the elliptical curve which the intersection of the Roman
semicircular barrel vault gave to the groin, were made semicircular,
so that the web or vaulting surface which rested on these ribs rose
upwards towards the centre of the bay, giving a distinct domical form
to the vault. The aisles, being half the width of the nave, were
divided into eight compartments, two to each bay of the nave, and were
covered both in the ground storey and the triforium with intersecting
groin vaults. When this rebuilding took place, the front of the church
was brought forward, bearing a narthex, and the arcades of the atrium
were rebuilt in the first years of the 12th century. The triple apse,
to the external decoration of which we have called attention, the
crypt underneath, and the south campanile, are the only remains of the
9th century church. The campanile on the north side was built
1125-1149, and the decoration with pilaster strips, semi-detached
shafts, and arched corbel table, is repeated on the facade of the
church and on the arcade round the atrium. In the rebuilding, portions
of the sculptural decoration of the 9th century church were utilized,
this would appear to have been a Lombard custom, as in the church of
San Michele the lower part of the main front is encrusted with
sculptured decoration taken from the earlier churches built on the
site. These ancient sculptures are of special interest, as they
constitute the best records of the rude Lombard work of the 8th and
9th centuries, and are intermingled with Byzantine scroll work and
interlaced patterns. If the plan of Sant' Ambrogio, with its
comparatively thin enclosure walls suggests its original construction
as an ordinary basilica, this is not the case with San Michele (fig
36), where all the external walls are of great thickness, showing that
from the first it was intended to vault the whole structure The church
is much smaller than Sant Ambrogio, there being originally only two
square bays to the nave (in the 15th century the vaults were rebuilt
with four bays), the transept, however projects widely beyond the
aisles, and as there is another bay given to the choir in front of the
apse, the area of the two churches is about the same. The existing
church was probably begun shortly after the destructive earthquake of
1117, and was consecrated in 1132. In Sant' Ambrogio the transverse
and diagonal arches spring from just above the triforium floor, so
that there was no room for clerestory windows, and consequently the
interior is dark. In San Michele the ribs rise from the level of the
top of the triforium arcades and two clerestory windows are provided
to each bay. The crossing of the nave and transept is covered with a
dome carried on squinches, which dates from the first building. The
dome over the fourth bay of Sant' Ambrogio replaced the original vault
about the beginning of the 13th century.

The cathedral of Novara, originally of the ordinary basilica type of
the 10th century with timber roofs, was reconstructed in the 11th
century, compound piers being built to carry the transverse and
diagonal ribs and walls built across the outer aisles to resist the
thrust, on the other hand SS. Pietro and Paolo at Bologna is a 12th
century church which was designed from the first to be vaulted. To
these, and still belonging to the basilican plan, must be added San
Pietro in Cielo d'oro (1136) and San Teodoro, both in Pavia; S. Evasio
at Casale Monferrato, having a comparatively narrow nave with double
aisles on either side and a very remarkable narthex or porch. S.
Lorenzo at Verona (lately restored), which in the 12th century was
rebuilt with compound piers to carry a vault (the apse and the two
remarkable circular towers in the west front belong to the ancient
church), and Sant' Abbondio at Como often restored and partly rebuilt,
retaining however, some of the original sculpture of the early Lombard
period.

Of churches built on the plan of the Latin cross, examples are Sant'
Antonino at Piacenza, with an octagonal lantern tower over the
crossing, Parma cathedral (_c._ 1175), with an octagonal pointed dome
over the crossing, Modena cathedral, rebuilt and consecrated in
1184; San Nazaro-Grande at Milan; and San Lanfranco at Pavia, the two
latter without aisles.

BAPTISTRY. CAMPO SANTO. CATHEDERAL CAMPANILE

Photo, Brogi.

FIG. 62.--PISA

FIG. 63--ST MARK'S, VENICE.

Photo, Anderson.]

FIG. 64.--AMIENS CATHEDRAL.

Photo, Neurdean.

FIG. 65.--BURGOS CATHEDRAL.

Photo, F. Frith & Co.

FIG. 66.--ST PAUL'S, LONDON.

Photo, F. Frith & Co.

FIG. 67.--ELY CATHEDRAL.

Photo, F. Frith & Co.]

Reference has already been made to the eaves-galleries of the apses of
the Lombard churches. A similar gallery was carried across the main
front, rising with the slope of the roof, as in San Michele, Pavia;
also on the west fronts of San Pietro in Cielo d'oro and San
Lanfranco, at Pavia; and in the cathedrals of Parma and Piacenza. In
all these cases the galleries are not quite continuous, vertical
buttresses or groups of shafts or single shafts being carried up
through them to the corbel tables. In S. Ambrogio at Milan the central
original lantern is surrounded with two tiers of galleries. The finest
example of their employment, however, is in the magnificent central
tower of the Cistercian church at Chiaravalle, near Milan, where the
two lower storeys form the drum of the internal dome, the two storeys
above are set back, and the upper storey consists of a lofty octagonal
tower with conical spire.

One of the serious defects in the front of the church of San Michele
at Pavia is that it forms a mask, and takes no cognizance of the aisle
roofs, which are at a lower level, and the same is found in San
Pietro-in-Cielo d'oro at Pavia. This mask is carried to an absurd
extent in the church of Santa Maria della Pieve at Arezzo, in which,
above the ground storey of the arcades, are three galleries forming
strong horizontal lines, which suggest the numerous floors of a civic
building instead of the vertical subdivisions of a church. This defect
is not found in the church of San Zeno at Verona, which is one of the
finest of the Lombard churches; the church is basilican in plan, the
nave being divided into five bays with compound piers, as in Sant'
Ambrogio, as if it were intended to vault it; this, however, was never
done, but stone arches arc thrown across the two westernmost bays of
the nave as if to carry the roof (now concealed by a wooden ceiling).
The facade is of marble and sandstone, with pilaster-strips rising
from the base to the arched corbel table, and the outline of the nave
and aisles is preserved in the front, in which all the mouldings and
carving arc of the utmost delicacy. Both here and in the cathedral are
fine examples of those projecting porches, the columns of which are
carried on the backs of lions or other beasts. At Piacenza, Parma,
Mantua, Bergamo and Modena are porches of a similar kind, and in the
cathedral of Modena the columns which support the balcony on the
entrance to the crypt are all carried on the backs of lions. The
cathedral of Verona has suffered so much from rebuilding and
restoration that little remains of the earlier structure, but the apse
of the choir, decorated with a close set range of pilaster-strips,
with bases and Corinthian capitals and crowned with a highly enriched
entablature, is quite unique in its design.

Among circular buildings, the Rotonda at Brescia was at one time
considered to date from the 8th century, owing to its massive
construction and the simplicity and plainness of its external design.
Later discoveries, however, have shown that the early date can only be
given to the crypt of San Filasterio situated to the eastward of the
Rotonda. The church of Santo Sepolcro at Bologna, as its name implies,
is one of those reproductions of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalem which were built by the Templars during the crusades. Of
much earlier date is the circular church of San Tommaso-in-Limine, an
early Lombard work of the 9th century, to which period belong also the
baptisteries of Albenga, Arsago, Biella, Galliano and Asti. One of the
most beautiful examples is the baptistery of Santa Maria at Gravedona,
at the northern end of the lake of Como, built in black and white
marble. The plan is unusual, and consists of a square with circular
apses on three sides.

_Byzantine Romanesque._--Although in the first basilican church of St
Mark at Venice, erected in 929 to receive the relics of the saint
recovered from St Mark's in Alexandria, the capitals of the columns
and other decorative accessories showed Greek influence, its
transformation into a five-domed Byzantine structure was not begun
till about the middle of the 11th century. The date given by Cattanco
is 1063, the same year in which the cathedral of Pisa was begun; it is
probable, however, that the scheme had already been in contemplation
for some years, as the problem was not an easy one to solve, owing to
the restrictions of the site, and to the desire to reproduce in some
way the leading features of the church of the Holy Apostles at
Constantinople. This church was destroyed in 1464, but its description
by Procopius is so clear, and corresponds so closely with St Mark's,
completed towards the end of the 11th century, as to leave little
doubt about the source of its inspiration. From what has already been
said with reference to the great changes made when it was proposed to
vault the early Lombard basilican churches, those of equal importance
which were carried out in St Mark's will be better understood. The
nave was divided into three square bays (fig. 37), with additional
bays on the north and south to form transepts; the five square bays
thus obtained were covered with domes carried on pendentives, as in St
Sophia at Constantinople, and on wide transverse barrel vaults; the
domes over the north and south transepts and the choir were of
slightly less dimensions than those over the nave and crossing, in
consequence of the limitations in area caused by the chapel of St
Theodore on the north, the ducal palace on the south, and the ancient
apse of the original basilica which it was desired to retain. In the
reconstruction, many of the old columns, capitals and parapets were
utilized again in the arcades carrying the galleries and in the
balustrades over them. Externally the brick walls were decorated with
blind arcades and niches of Lombard style, and all the roof vaults
were covered with lead as in Constantinople. The subsequent decoration
of the exterior took two centuries to carry out, not including the
florid work of later date. There is no precedent in the East for the
superimposed columns and capitals exported from Constantinople and
Syria which now decorate the north, south and west fronts (Plate I.,
fig. 63), though the materials were all of the finest Byzantine type.
Internally, the mosaic decoration of the domes, vaults and the upper
part of the walls, was carried out by Greek artists from
Constantinople, who probably also were employed for the marble
panelling of the lower part of the walls. The marble casing of the
front was certainly executed by Constantinopolitan artists, since the
moulded string known as the "Venetian dentil" is a direct reproduction
of that in St Sophia. At a later date the domes were all surmounted by
lanterns in wood, covered with lead, and the roofs were all raised. So
far, therefore, the building departs from its prototype, the church of
the Apostles. A similar transformation took place in the church of
Santa Fosca at Torcello, where a single large dome was contemplated
over the centre of the original basilican church, but was never built.
The cathedral of Torcello and the church at Murano are richly
decorated with carved panels, capitals, choir screens and other
features, either imported from the East or reproduced by Greek artists
or Italians trained in the style. The influence of St Mark's in this
respect extended far and wide on the east coast of Italy; and at
Pomposa, Ancona, and as far south as Brindisi, Byzantine details can
be traced everywhere. The designs of the churches of San Ciriaco at
Ancona and of Sant' Antonio at Padua were both based on St Mark's.
Sant' Antonio's had six domes, there being two over the nave; and in
all cases the domes were surmounted by domes in timber like those of
St Mark's.

From R.P. Spiers's _Architecture, East and West_.]

In domestic work, Venice is richer in Byzantine architecture than
Constantinople, for with the exception of the Hebdomon palace the
continual fires there have destroyed all the earlier palaces and
houses. The Fondaco-dei-Turchi, built probably in the 11th century, is
one of the most remarkable; the front on the great canal is 160 ft.
long, having a lofty arcade with ten stilted arches on the ground
storey and an arcade of eighteen arches above; the pavilion wings at
the east end are in three storeys, with blind arcades and windows
pierced in the central arcade. The whole was built in brick encased
with marble, with panels or disks enriched with bas-reliefs or
coloured marbles. A second example is found in the Palazzo Loredan,
having similar arcades, stilted arches and marble panelling; and
there are two others, one on the Grand Canal and the other on the
Rio-Ca-Foscari. Throughout Venice the decoration of these Byzantine
palaces would seem to have influenced those of later date; for the
Venetian dentil, interlaced scroll-work and string courses, with the
Byzantine pendant leaf, are found intermingled with Gothic work, even
down to the 15th century, and the same to a certain extent is found at
Padua, Verona and Vicenza.

_Central Romanesque._--The builders in the centre of Italy would seem
to have followed more closely the Roman basilican plan, for in two of
the earliest churches, Santa Maria Fuorcivitas at Lucca and San Paolo
a Ripa d'Arno at Pisa, the T-shaped plan of St Peter's and St Paul's,
with widely projecting transepts, was adopted; the difference also
between the north and central developments is very marked, as in the
place of the massive stone walls, compound piers, and internal and
external buttresses deemed necessary to resist the thrusts of the
great vaults, and the low clerestory of the northern churches, those
in the south retain the light arcades with classic columns, the wooden
roofs, and the high clerestory of the Roman basilicas. Instead of the
vigorous sculpture of the Lombards in the Tuscan churches, marbles of
various colours take its place, the carving being more refined in
character and much quieter in effect.

The earliest church now existing is that of San Frediano at Lucca,
dating from the end of the 7th century. Originally it was a
five-aisled basilica, with an eastern apse, but when it was included
within the walls in the 11th century the apse and the entrance doorway
changed places, and a fine eaves-gallery was carried round the new
apse; the outer aisles were also transformed into chapels. So many of
the churches in Pisa and Lucca had new fronts given to them in the
11th or 12th century, that it is interesting to find, in the church of
San Pietro-in-Grado at Pisa, an example in which the external
decoration with pilaster strips and arched corbel tables is retained,
showing that in the 9th century, when that church was built, the
Lombard style prevailed there. Other early churches are those of San
Casciano (9th century), San Nicola and San Frediano (1007), all in
Pisa.

Of early foundation, but probably rebuilt in the 11th century, are two
interesting churches in Toscanella, Santa Maria and San Pietro; they
are both basilican on plan, but the easternmost bay is twice the width
of the other arches of the arcade, and is divided from the nave by a
triumphal arch. In both churches the floor of the transept is raised
some feet above the nave, and a crypt occupies the whole space below
it.

One of the earliest and most perfect examples of this subdivision is
the church of San Miniato, on a hill overlooking Florence. The church
was rebuilt in 1013, and some of the Roman capitals of the earlier
building are incorporated in the new one. It is divided into nave and
aisles by an arcade of nine arches, and every third support consists
of a compound pier with four semi-detached shafts, one of which, on
each side of the nave, rises to the level of the summit of the arcade
and carries a massive transverse arch to support the roof. The east
end of the church, occupying the last three bays of the arcade, is
raised 11 ft. above the floor of the nave, over a vaulted crypt
extending the whole width of the church and carried under the eastern
apse. The interior of the church, which is covered over with an open
timber roof, painted in colour and gilded, is decorated with inlaid
patterns of black and white marble of conventional design, and the
same scheme is adopted in the main facade, enriching the panels of the
blind arcade on the lower storey, and above an extremely classic
design of Corinthian pilasters, entablature and pediment.

As none of the facades of the Pisan churches was built before the
middle of the 11th century, it is possible that Buschetto, the
architect of the cathedral of Pisa, may have profited by the scheme
suggested in the lower storey of San Miniato; if so he departed from
its classic proportions. There are seven blind arcades in the lower
storey of the Pisan cathedral, the arcades are loftier, and the
position of the side doors which open into the inner aisle on each
side is of much better effect. The cathedral was begun in 1063, the
year following the brilliant capture of Palermo by the Pisans, when
they returned in triumph with immense spoils. In plan it consists of a
Latin cross, with double aisles on either side of the nave extending
to the east end, a central apse, transepts with single aisles on each
side, and north and south transepted apses (fig. 38). The nave arcade,
with its Corinthian capitals and monolith stone columns, is of
exceptional boldness, and as it is carried across the transept up to
the east end (a length of 320 ft.) it forms a continuous line greater
than that in any other cathedral. The crossing is covered by a dome,
elliptical on plan, being from east to west the length of the transept
and aisles. The result is unfortunate, and detracts both externally
and internally from its beauty, otherwise the exterior decoration,
which must have been schemed out in its entirety from the beginning
(with the exception of the dome, which is of later design), has the
most satisfactory and pleasing effect. The lofty blind arcade of the
lower storey and the open gallery above on the facade (the latter
represented by a blind arcade), are carried round the whole building,
and the horizontal lines of the galleries of the upper storeys accord
with the roofs of the aisles and nave respectively and the blind
arcade of the clerestory. The walls are faced within and without with
white and grey marble, and the combination of sculpture and inlay
which enriches the arcades of the facades gives an additional
attraction to the building. The cathedral is sometimes quoted as
Byzantine in style, but its plan and design are of widely different
character from those of any building found in the East, and the
mosaics, which constitute the finest decorative element in that style,
were not added till the 14th century, and formed no part of the
architect Buschetto's scheme.

The Baptistery, begun in 1153, was not completed till towards the
close of the 13th century, when important alterations were made in the
design to bring it into accordance with the new Gothic style. The
crocketed gables, and the upper gallery, substituted for the arcades,
which followed on the lines of those in the cathedral, have taken away
the quiet repose found in the latter; the lower storey, however, with
its lofty blind arcades, similar to those of the cathedral, and the
principal doorway, are of great beauty. The central area of the
baptistery, which is surrounded by aisles and triforium gallery, is
covered by a conical dome; internally as well as externally this can
never have been a beautiful feature, and the additions of the 13th
century have made it one of the ugliest roofs in existence.

Companile, or Leaning Tower, 1174-1350
Cathedral, 1067-1250, restored after fire 1596.
Bapistery St Jean, 1153-c 1300.
Cemetery (Campo Santo), 1278-1465.]

The Campanile or leaning tower was begun in 1174. Owing, however, to
the treacherous nature of the ground, the piles driven in to support
the tower gave way on the south side, so that, when only 35 ft. above
the ground, a settlement was noticed, and slight additions in height
were made from time to time in order to obtain a horizontal level for
the stone courses; but this was without avail, and on the completion
of the third gallery above the ground storey the work was suspended
for many years. In 1350 it was recommenced, three more gallery storeys
were added, and the upper or belfry stage was set back in the inner
wall. The tower is now 178 ft. high, and overhangs nearly 14 ft. on
the south side; its design is made to harmonize with the cathedral,
but shows much less refinement and grace.

The Campo Santo, an immense rectangular court 350 ft. long by 70 ft.
wide, surrounded by a cloister 35 ft. wide, was begun in 1280; the
details are refined, but the poverty in the design of the tracery with
which the arcades were fitted in at a much later date detracts from
its interest, which is now mainly concerned with the beautiful
frescoes which decorate its walls.

As might have been expected, the cathedral of Pisa set the model not
only for the restoration of existing churches but also for new ones,
in Pisa itself and also at Lucca, Pistoia and Prato. In Pisa, the
church of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno was rebuilt about 1060, possibly by
the architect of the cathedral; San Pietro-in-Vincoli and San Nicola
date from the early years of the 12th century. At Lucca the churches
of Santa Giuha, San Giusto, San Martino, San Michele, and the restored
front of Santa Maria Fuorcivitas, are the principal examples in which
the Pisan cathedral has suggested the design, and at Pistoia we can
point to the cathedral, Sant' Andrea, San Pietro and San Giovanni
Fuorcivitas, the latter with a south wall decorated with three stages
of blind arcades of great richness. The cathedral of Lucca was either
restored or rebuilt at the beginning of the 14th century, and has a
distinctly Gothic effect. The lower storey of the facade presents the
unusual feature of an open porch across the whole front with three
great archways. This porch with the three galleries above was added to
the cathedral at the beginning of the 13th century.

_Southern Romanesque._--The influences exerted in the early
development of the Romanesque style in the south of Italy are much
more complicated than in the north, since two new elements come into
the field, the Norman and Saracenic. Of early work very little
remains, owing to the general rebuilding in the 11th century; what is
more remarkable, there is scarcely any trace of the result of the
Byzantine occupation for so many centuries; the only exception being
the church of San Gregorio at Bari, a small basilican structure in
which the arches of the arcades separating the nave from the aisles
are stilted like those of the Fondaco-dei-Turchi at Venice.

[Illustation: FIG. 39.--Plan of S. Nicola at Bari.]

One of the chief characteristics noticeable in the plan is the almost
universal adoption of a transept projecting north and south slightly
beyond the aisle walls, and in some cases raised over a crypt, as in
the churches at Toscanella. Since, however, there is no choir bay, and
the central apse opens direct into the transept, the plan is not that
of the Latin cross. The most complete development of this arrangement
is found in the cathedral and in the church of San Nicola at Bari
(fig. 39); both being basilican churches with a triumphal arch opening
into the transept,--in this respect similar to the churches of St
Peter and St Paul at Rome, except that the transepts project only
slightly, beyond the aisles. There is one peculiarity in both these
churches, as also in that of the cathedral at Molfetta. East of the
transept, and at the north and south sides, are towers, between which
is carried a wall which hides the apse, the only indication of its
existence being the round arched window which lights it. A similar
arrangement exists in the cathedrals of Giovenazzo, Bitetto and
Bitonto. The central bay of the transept of the cathedral at Bari is
surmounted by an octagonal drum, the dome within which is carried on
squinches; a similar dome was projected in San Nicola, but never
built. In the cathedral at Bari, as also in San Nicola, the lofty nave
is covered with a timber roof, and has an arcade on the ground storey
and a fine triforium and clerestory windows above.

Externally these churches depend for their effect more on their fine
masonry than on any decorative treatment; the blind arcades of the
lower storey have very little projection, and the pilaster strips
which in the Lombard churches break up the wall surface are not found
here; the arched corbel table is freely employed but rarely the open
gallery. There is one remarkable example in Bitonto cathedral; above
the aisle chapels, and approached from the triforium, is an open
gallery, the arches of which rest on widely projecting capitals
sculptured with animals and foliage, half Lombardic and half Byzantine
in style. The small shafto supporting these capitals are of infinite
variety of design, with spirals, chevrons, fluting and vertical
mouldings of many kinds.

The cathedral at Molfetta is in plan quite different from those
already described, and consists of square bays with aisles, transept
and apse, having domes over the nave and crossing. The Byzantine
influence here comes in, but it is much more pronounced in La Cattohca
at Stilo, a small church square on plan with four columns carrying the
superstructure, which consists of a central and four domes on the
angles. Other domed churches are those of the Immaculata at Trani; San
Sabino, Canosa; and San Marco, Rossano. The lower part of the
cathedral at Troja shows the direct influence of the cathedral at
Pisa. The cathedral at Trani has the same plan as the churches at
Bari, except that the earlier apses are not enclosed. The cathedral of
Salerno retains still the fine atrium by Robert Guiscard in 1077. In
the cathedrals of Acerenza, Aversa and Venosa, the French chevet was
introduced towards the end of the 12th century.

In the magnificent octagonal tower which encloses the dome on the
crossing in the cathedral of Caserta-Vecchia, we find the interlacing
blind arcades of the Norman architecture in Sicily, as also in the
cathedral at Amalfi. The porches, entrance doorways and windows being
the chief decorative feature of the south Italian churches, were
enriched with splendid sculptures. So were the pulpits of the
cathedrals of Sessa, Ravello, Salerno and Troja, the rich mosaic
inlays at Sessa, Ravello and Salerno according in design with the
Cosmati work in Rome, though they possibly had an earlier origin in
Sicily.

_Sicilian Romanesque._--Although the earliest remains in Sicily date
from the Norman occupation of the island, they are so permeated with
Saracenic detail as to leave no doubt that the conqueror employed the
native workmen, who for two centuries at all events had been building
for the Mahommedans, and therefore, whether Arab or Greek, had been
reproducing the same style as that found in Egypt or North Africa.

It is possible that, so far as the Norman palaces of the 12th century
are concerned, they were based on those built under the Saracenic
rule, but the requirements of a mosque and of a church are entirely
different, and therefore in the earliest church existing (San
Giovanni-dei-Leprosi, at Palermo, built by Robert Guiscard in A.D.
1071) we find a completely developed Christian structure, having nave,
aisles and transepts, with a dome over the crossing and three apses.
The next church, at Troina (1078), was similar on plan, but had three
square wings at the east end instead of apses. The next two churches,
La Martorana and San Cataldo (1129), at Palermo, followed the plan of
the Greek church, with four columns carrying the superstructure and
three domes over the nave bays carried on Saracenic squinches, similar
to those in San Giovanni-dei-Leprosi. San Giovanni-degli-Eremiti
(T-shaped on plan) has no aisles, but carries domes over the nave and
three smaller domes on the transept. The most important feature found
in all these churches is the pointed arch, of Saracenic origin
imported from the East, which was employed for the nave, arcades, the
crossing, and in the squinches carrying the domes. The blind arcades
which decorate the walls of San Cataldo and of the Norman palaces--La
Favara, the Torre della Ninfa, La Ziza and La Cuba (all in or near
Palermo),--in two or three orders, and sometimes (as in the Favara
palace) of great height, have all pointed arches and no impost
mouldings or capitals. The distinguishing characteristic of these
blind arcades (and the same is found in the open arcades) is the very
slight projection of the outer order of arch.

The finest early example of Norman architecture in Sicily is the
Cappella Palatina, at Palermo, consecrated in 1140, and attached to
the palace. The plan consists of nave, aisles, transept and triple
apse, the arches, all pointed and stilted, being carried on monolith
columns of granite and marble alternately. The nave is covered over
with a timber roof with stalactitic coves and coffered ceiling, richly
decorated in colour and gilded, the borders of the panels bearing
Arabic inscriptions in Cufic characters. Similar inscriptions exist on
the upper part of the walls of the Cuba and Ziza palaces, proving that
they were built by Saracenic workmen. The plans of the cathedrals of
Palermo, Messina (destroyed 1908), Cefalu and Monreale are all
similar, with nave and aisles separated by arcades, in which the
arches are all pointed and stilted, transepts projecting north and
south beyond the aisle walls, and square bays beyond, with apsidal
terminations. That of Palermo has much suffered from restorations, but
the cathedral of Monreale is in perfect condition. It was begun in
1176 and consecrated in 1182. The proportions of the arcade are much
finer than in the Cappella Palatina, where the stilted arch was of the
same height as the shaft of the columns, whereas here it is only half
the height. The columns are all of granite with extremely fine
capitals, some of which were taken from ancient buildings. All the
roofs are in wood, with coffered ceilings richly decorated in gold and
colour. The walls to a height of 22 ft. are all lined with slabs of
marble with mosaic friezes, and all the surfaces of walls and arches
are covered above with mosaics representing scenes from the Old and
New Testaments, while in the apse at the east end a gigantic figure of
Christ dominates the whole church. The same is found at Cefalu, where
the mosaic decorations, however, are confined to the apses. Externally
the walls are comparatively plain, the decoration being confined to
the east end, where the three apses are covered with a series of blind
intersecting arcades of pointed arches. This class of enrichment
prevails throughout the great Sicilian churches, and extends sometimes
to the smaller churches, as that of the Chiesa-dei-Vespri. Of the
conventual buildings attached to the cathedral of Monreale, which
occupied an immense site, there remain only the cloisters, about 140
ft. square, enclosed by an arcade with pointed arches carried on
coupled columns, the shafts of which are elaborately carved and inlaid
with mosaic; the capitals are of the most varied design and of
exquisite execution.

_Italian Gothic._--Italy is poorer than any other country in examples
of the transition from round arched to pointed arched buildings. The
use of the pointed arch was accepted at last as a necessity, and
cannot be said ever to have been welcomed. The first buildings in
which it is seen worked out fully in detail are those of Niccola
Pisano, and but few examples exist of good Gothic work earlier than
his time. The elaborately arcaded and sculptured west front of Ferrara
cathedral is a screen to an early building. The cathedral and other
churches at Genoa are certainly exquisite works, but they appear to
owe their internal design rather to the influence of (perhaps)
Sicilian taste than north Italian, and the exquisite beauty of the
west front owes a good deal, at any rate, to French influence,
softened, refined and decorated by the extreme taste of an Italian
architect. The feature which most marks all Italian Gothic is the
indifference to the true use of the pointed arch. Everywhere arches
were constructed which could not have stood for a day had they not
been held together by iron rods. There was none of that sense of the
unities of art which made a northerner so jealous to maintain the
proper relations of all parts of his structure. In Niccola Pisano's
works the arch mould rarely fits the capital on which it rests. The
proportions of buttresses to the apparent work to be done by them are
bad and clumsy. The window traceries look like bad copies of some
northern tracery, only once seen in a hurry by an indifferent workman.
There is no life, or development, or progress in the work. If we look
at the ground-plans of Italian Gothic churches, we shall find nothing
whatever to delight us. The columns are widely spaced, so as to
diminish the number of vaulting bays, and to make the proportions of
the oblong aisle vaulting bay very ungainly. Clustered shafts are
almost unknown, the columns being plain cylinders with poorly
sculptured capitals. There are no triforium galleries, and the
clerestory is generally very insignificant. In short, a comparison of
the best Gothic works in Italy with the most moderate French or
English work would show at once how vast its inferiority must be
allowed to be. Still there were beauties which ought not to be
forgotten or passed over. Such were the beautiful cloisters, whose
arcades are carried on delicate coupled shafts,--e.g. in St John
Lateran and St Paul's at Rome. Such also were the porches and
monuments at Verona and elsewhere; and the campaniles,--both those in
Rome, divided by a number of string-courses into a number of storeys,
and those of the north, where there are hardly any horizontal
divisions, and the whole effort is to give an unbroken vertical
effect; or that unequalled campanile, the tower of the cathedral at
Florence by Giotto, where one sees in ordered proportion, accurately
adjusted, line upon line, and storey upon storey, perhaps the most
carefully wrought-out work in all Europe.

The Italian architects were before all others devoted to the display
of colour in their works. St Mark's had led the way in this, but,
throughout the peninsula, the bountiful plenty of nature in the
provision of materials was seconded by the zeal of the artist. They
were also distinguished for their use of brick. Just as in parts of
Germany, France, Spain and England, there were large districts in
which no stone could be had without the greatest labour and trouble;
and here the reality and readiness which always marked the medieval
workman led to his at once availing himself of the natural material,
and making a feature of his brickwork.

The Gothic of Italy has, it must be admitted, no such grand works to
show as more northern countries have. Allowance has to be made at
every turn for some incompleteness or awkwardness of plan, design or
construction. There is no attempt to emulate the beauties of the best
French plans. Milan cathedral, magnificent as its scale and material
make it, is clumsy and awkward both in plan and section, though its
vast size makes it impressive internally. San Francesco, Assisi, is
only a moderately good early German Gothic church, converted into
splendour by its painted decorations. At Orvieto a splendid west front
is put, without any proper adjustment, against a church whose merit is
mainly that it is large and in parts beautifully coloured.

The finest Gothic interiors are of the class of which the Frari at
Venice and Sant' Anastasia at Verona are examples. They are simple
vaulted cruciform churches, with aisles and chapels on the east side
of the transepts. But even in these the designs of the various parts
in detail are poor and meagre, and only redeemed from failure by the
picturesque monuments built against their walls, by the work of the
painter, and by their furniture. In fine, Gothic art was never really
understood in Italy, and, consequently, never reached to perfection.

Whilst the Pointed style was almost exclusively known and practised in
northern Europe, the Italians were but slowly improving in their
Gothic style; and the improvement was more evinced in their secular
than in their ecclesiastical structures. Florence, Bologna, Vicenza,
Udine, Genoa, and, above all, Venice, contain palaces and mansions of
the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, which for simplicity, utility
and beauty far excel most of those in the same and other places of the
three following centuries. The contemporary churches do not exhibit
the same degree of improvement in style that is conspicuous in these
domestic works, for there are no works in Europe more worthy of study
and admiration than the Ducal Palace at Venice, and some of the older
works of the same class, and even of earlier date. The town halls of
Perugia, Piacenza and Siena, and many houses in these cities, and at
Corneto, Amalfi, Asti, Orvieto and Lucca, the fountains of Perugia and
Viterbo, and the monuments at Bologna, Verona and Arezzo, may be named
as evidence of the interest which the national art affords to the
architectural student even in Italy, as late as the end of the 14th
century; but after this it gradually gave way to the new style, though
in some instances its influence may be traced even when it had been
overborne by it. (R. P. S.)

ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE

Most generally, Romanesque art is thought of as that period of art which followed and partook of the nature of Roman art and yet was too far removed from it to be classed as Roman. The difference, however, was not merely one of decay; it is rather in positive factors that we shall find the true characteristics of the style. Its formation was parallel to the development of the Romance languages, and like them it acquired barbaric elements.

In Rome itself hardly any, if any, contributions were made to its growth, and there as late as the 12th century the early Christian form of basilican church continued to be built. It may, perhaps, best be conceived as a Germano-Roman product, for even in Spain and north Italy, which became such strong centres of the art, the Visigoths and Lombards provided the Teutonic element. Besides this change of "blood" in the style, there is another element of change in the influences obtained from the more rapidly developed art of the East. This influence indeed was so strong and constant that, having it in view, we might almost describe the Romanesque style as Germano-Byzantine.

In the 6th and 7th centuries we have, on the one hand, the almost pure traditional early Christian art of Rome and indeed of western Europe, and on the other the direct establishment of matured Byzantine art at Ravenna, Parenzo, Naples and even in Rome. Then followed the mixture of these and of barbaric elements in the formation of several pre-Romanesque varieties, one of which has been named Italo-Byzantine. It was not until the age of Charlemagne that a centre was established strong enough for the formation of a new western school which should persist. From this time a progressive style was developed which led straight forward to the Gothic, and it is this movement which is best called Romanesque. This art was a perfect ferment of striving and experiment, of gathering and even of research; Roman, Byzantine and Saxon elements entered into its composition. It is probable also, as a result of Saracenic pressure on Syria, Asia Minor, North Africa and Spain, that artists, "bringing their crafts with them," drew together from still remoter parts to gain the protection of the great ruler of the West and to help in the formation of Carolingian art. With the disintegration of the empire of Charlemagne many local schools arose in Germany, France and Lombardy, which--especially after the year 1000, when there appears to have been a renewed burst of building energy--resulted in considerable differentiation of styles. The centre of energy seems to have been now here, now there, yet with all the differences there was a general resemblance over the whole field. Until the exact date of a very large number of monuments is more perfectly established, it will be impossible to trace out exactly the intricate windings of the line of advance. In fact there are two conflicting sides to the question presented by Romanesque art. In the first place we have to consider the several schools in regard to a standard of absolute attainment, and in the second as relative to the line of persistence and to the formation of Gothic, which was so largely the culmination, and then the decay, of the forces present in Romanesque art. Some of the most beautiful and complete of the Romanesque schools contributed least, some of the most inchoate gave the most, to that which was to be.

The most important existing monument of the age of Charlemagne is the
cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle (see fig. 44), which was being built in
the year 800. It has an octagonal central area, covered by a dome and
surrounded with two storeys of aisles both completely vaulted. The
interior surface of the dome was encrusted with mosaic. Another
important work of about the same time is the church of
Germigny-des-Pres near Orleans, which also is of the "central type,"
having a square tower above four piers surrounded by an aisle with
semicircular apses in the centre of each external wall, the apse to
the east having a mosaic.

FIG. 68.--ST PETERS, ROME.

_Photo, Brogi._

FIG. 69.--INTERIOR OF ST PETER'S, ROME.

_Photo, Alinari._]

FIG. 70.--TOWN HALL, BREMEN.

_Photo, Koch._

FIG. 7l.--VENDRAMINI PALACE, VENICE.

_Photo, Brogi._]

From the 9th to the 11th century the great problem worked out was that
of perfecting the standard plans of large churches. In the MS. plan of
the monastic church of St Gall, drawn about 820, we find a great nave
with aisles, apsidal terminations both to the east and the west,
transepts and probably a central tower (cf. the abbey church of
Saint-Riquier near Abbeville, built _c_. 800, of which a slight
representation has been preserved). In St Martin at Tours was probably
evolved the most perfect type of plan, that with an ambulatory and
radiating chapels surrounding the eastern apse. A magnificent church
of this form was built here at the beginning of the 11th century, but
not for the first time. Excavations have shown that the plan was
probably suggested by a still earlier church in which five tomb-niches
surrounded the central apse and tomb of St Martin. At Jumieges (begun
1040) it has recently been found that the plan terminated to the east
with parallel apses, as at St Albans in England; this is a second
important type. A third type is that in which the transepts as well as
the east end are finished with apses, like St Mary-in-the-Capitol at
Cologne.